Wednesday 12 December 2012

Authentic Spaghetti Bolognese - Recipe

I love to try out recipes and make them my way by adding extra ingredients or use substitutes. However some recipes are just splendid just the way they are. For instance authentic Spaghetti Bolognese. In this recipe they use wine, but I would just change it for beef stock and just leave out the pancetta. Enjoy a real tasty Italian dish:

Spaghetti Bolognese
Ingredients:

2tbsp olive oil

6 rashers pancetta, chopped

2 large onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 carrots, chopped

stick of celery

1 kg minced beef

2 glass of red wine

2 x 400 g chopped tomatoes

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

800 dried tagliatelle

grated parmesan cheese

1 - Heat oil in a saucepan and fry the bacon until golden over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and fry until softened. Increase heat and add the minced beef and fry until browned. Pour in wine and bring to a boil and let it reduce in volume by about a third. Stir in tomatoes, carrots and celery and reduce the heat.

2 -  Cover with a lid and let it simmer for 1-1,5 hours, but stir occasionally.

3 - Boil the tagliatelle and serve it with the bolognese sauce and sprinkle the parmesan over the pasta.

Enjoy!

Spaghetti Bolognese with Vegetables - Recipe

I love to enjoy a nice Spaghetti Bolognese in the middle of the week, although it takes few hours to make. That is why I like to do it my way. That is, using a recipe that is far from the authentic recipe and does not require hours waiting for it to slow cook. Now I don't think that I would dare saying this to any Italian chef, especially in Bologna, which is the home of Bolognese.  
I read in an article that Italian chefs are horrified by the way which the authentic recipe has been altered in different parts of the world. They actually have to conform to a recipe that has been set down by the chamber of commerce in Bologna in 1982.

But when you come home from work around 5-6 you dont have many hours at hand to allow for slow cooking for hours Therefore I have have come up with a lovely recipe that takes about 35-40 minutes to make :)

Ingredients:
500 ml of tomato sauce with onions and basil (use a good quality one like Loyd Grossman)
200 grams of minced meat (use more you if you like it meaty)
1,5 cup of mixed frozen vegetables (peas, carrots and sweet corn)
3 cm of leek, choppe
half orange bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp 7 spices mix (can be found in Asian specialty stores)
salt and pepper to taste
500 g spaghetti (cook according to the package)

Process:
1- Brown the minced meat in a saucepan with 2 table spoon of olive oil. 


2- Add all the vegetables and spices and mix well and fry everything together for about 3 minutes.


3- Add the tomato sauce and add 200 ml of water and bring it to a boil over high heat.Then reduce the temperature  and bring it down to low heat and let it simmer for about 35 minutes.


4- The last 10 minutes cook the spaghetti so that it is ready at the same time as the bolognese. 





Enjoy!

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Light Coconut Cake - Recipe

The other day, I felt like eating something light and sweet. Instantly I thought of my sticky chocolate cake (kladdkaka) but that is way to heavy and I was craving coconut, so I decided to make a coconut cake.
Now this cake can be made in different ways, but this particular recipe have been used in my family for years and is a favorite cake we often bake. The cake is easy to make and don't require a lot of time. I actually made it quickly during a break when we were watching a lovely movie: When Pigs have Wings.


Coconut Cake


Ingredients:
1,5 dl desiccated coconut
100 g butter
2 eggs
1 dl milk
3 dl self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla sugar (or use 1 tps vanilla extract)
2 dl sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup of toasted flaked almonds
(if you use plain flower, use 1,5 tsp baking powder)

Process:
1- First let mix the room temperature butter with sugar until it is creamy.
2- Mix in one egg at a time, then add the vanilla sugar, almonds and the desiccated coconut.
3- Sift the flour and baking powder over the mix and gently fold it in, do not mix!
4- Put the cake batter into a cake tin and bake it for 40 minutes, 170 degrees.

The lovely smell should fill the house after a while. Right before you take it out and let it rest for a little while, you should make a lovely cup of tea to enjoy with the cake. Just writing this makes me wanna go and bake it again :)

You can eat this cake just the way it is or you can make a topping. Some use a coconut butter cream topping. I have a lighter version of a topping, which I use sometimes. Do the following for the light topping:
50 g melted butter mixed with 2 tsp vanilla sugar, 1 egg yolk, 2 tbsp desiccated coconut, 2 tbsp sugar. Mix it and make small wholes in the cake top and pour it over and let it rest for a while before serving.

A lovely way of serving the coconut cake without any topping, is to use some lightly wiped cream and fresh fruits like raspberries.



Enjoy!